Lynne Quarmby announces she will be a candidate in the next election, in Burnaby on December 17, 2014.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

Lynne Quarmby relaxes in her office in North Vancouver on May 27, 2010. Quarmby, the Simon Fraser University scientist who was arrested for protesting the Kinder Morgan pipeline on Burnaby Mountain, plans to run for politics.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

Lynne Quarmby, the Simon Fraser University scientist who was arrested for protesting the Kinder Morgan pipeline on Burnaby Mountain, plans to run for political office.HO
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

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METRO VANCOUVER - When Lynne Quarmby marched up Burnaby Mountain to protest Kinder Morgan’s pipeline plans last month, she had no idea it would lead to a run in federal politics.

But the Simon Fraser University scientist could find herself thrust into one of Metro Vancouver’s most competitive races next year if she is successful in getting the nod for the federal Green party in the new riding of Burnaby-North Seymour. The riding, which includes the eastern part of the North Shore, was part of the former Burnaby-Douglas riding, which had long been a New Democrat stronghold but has been facing increasingly tighter election races as a result of changing demographics.

If she’s chosen as the Green candidate, Quarmby would be up against Conservative Mike Little, a North Vancouver city councillor, and Liberal Terry Beech. The NDP’s Kennedy Stewart, who narrowly beat the Conservatives’ Ronald Leung by just 1,000 votes in 2011, will run in Burnaby South but no NDP candidate has yet been chosen for Burnaby-North Seymour.

“It’s been excruciatingly painful to make this decision,” said Quarmby, 56. “I’m only doing it because I believe I have to.”

Quarmby, a science professor and chairwoman of SFU’s molecular biology and biochemistry department, said she had never considered running for politics before she was approached about three weeks ago by the Green party asking if she would be interested in seeking a nomination. She suspects the party had tipped her as a potential candidate because of an opinion-editorial piece she had written ahead of the People’s Climate March for The Vancouver Sun in September.

But it wasn’t until her high-profile arrest, along with about 100 others on Burnaby Mountain during the Kinder Morgan protests — the charges were later dropped against all of them — that the Greens came knocking at her door.

“I think they had their eye on me for a while,” she said.

As the face of the pipeline opposition, Quarmby has raised her profile within the Burnaby community. But although the Kinder Morgan pipeline was a huge issue in the municipal campaign — 70 per cent of residents surveyed in a recent Insights West poll said they were opposed to the project — it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to sway the federal vote.

Although a traditionally left-leaning riding, analysts say the riding has a strong enough Liberal and Conservative split to make it a close three-way race.

Mario Canseco, who conducted the online poll of 506 residents in September, said despite the high polarization of the area because of the environmental impacts, federal ridings often fall in line with historical trends. He expects Burnaby-North Seymour will likely be more left-leaning, while Stewart will have a tougher fight against the Conservatives in Burnaby South. However, it’s not known how the Liberals intend to campaign, he added, or how much the demographics have changed in the past four years.

“It’s really almost like the Wild West,” he said. “It’s very different territory.”

Greens such as federal leader Elizabeth May and B.C.’s Andrew Weaver, he added, got their seats because of their door knocking and high-profile status.

Richard Johnston, of University of B.C.’s political science department, said he doubts the Greens, or the Kinder Morgan issue, will be a huge issue in the new riding in the upcoming federal election.

“The focus of this election is going to be Stephen Harper,” he said. “The Greens are likely to be squeezed more than anything else. It’s going to a referendum on the record of the government.”

But Quarmby, who lives on the North Shore, said she believes she can beat the Conservatives in the new riding because people are getting fed up.

“It’s been really clear to me during these protests that democracy in our country has been seriously eroded,” she said. “I can see a future in Canada where going forward there’s going to be a lot more protests. There’s no other outlet. The only option I saw was to step forward.”

Quarmby argues she’s concerned with the way Canada is changing under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, which has rewritten the National Energy Board Act to “suit oil companies and strip away the public’s right to consultation and environmental review” at a time when climate change is the biggest problem facing society.

She maintains the fact the public could not speak about climate change in the Kinder Morgan pipeline hearings is evidence the process is “broken and corrupt.”

“These are big projects they are locking us into for decades,” she said. “To not consider climate change is unethical.”

Quarmby, who plans to move from West Vancouver to North Burnaby in January, maintains the Green party is a good fit because her top two priorities align with those of Elizabeth May: for proportional representation as a first important step in repairing Canada’s democracy and taking serious action on climate change. She also has a huge affinity for both sides of the inlet, she said.

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